The Sleuth Kit vs Volatility 3
The Sleuth Kit
sleuthkit.orgVolatility 3
volatilityfoundation.orgSide by side
| Figure | The Sleuth Kit | Volatility 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Computer Forensics Software | 7.5 (#9) | 7.3 (#12) |
| Spec score · Digital Forensics Software | 7.6 (#16) | 7.3 (#22) |
| Purpose | The Sleuth Kit is a C library and command-line tools for investigating disk images and analyzing volume and file system data. | Volatility 3 extracts digital artifacts from volatile memory (RAM) samples to provide visibility into a system’s runtime state. |
| Support | The projects are maintained by volunteers, with user forums and email lists for community help and commercial support available from Sleuth Kit Labs. | The project directs bug reports to GitHub Issues and community support questions to its Slack. |
| Supported systems | The site says it runs on Windows and Unix platforms and lists testing on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Cygwin, Open and FreeBSD, and Solaris. | The project provides symbol table packs for Windows, macOS, and Linux; Windows symbols can be queried, downloaded, generated, and cached when missing, while Mac and Linux symbol tables must be produced manually. |
Plans
In their own words
The Sleuth Kit
The Sleuth Kit is a free, open-source C library and collection of command-line tools for investigating disk images and analysing volume and file-system data. Its tools can list allocated and deleted file names, inspect NTFS attributes, display metadata, and create file-activity timelines. They examine file systems without relying on the host operating system, allowing deleted and hidden content to be shown. Supported images include raw/dd, E01, VHD, VMDK, and AFF. Listed file systems include NTFS, FAT, ExFAT, APFS, UFS, EXT2FS, EXT3FS, Ext4, HFS, ISO 9660, and YAFFS2. Hashes can be checked against NIST NSRL, Hash Keeper, and custom databases. The C library can be embedded in larger forensic tools and powers Autopsy and other forensic products. Listed platforms include Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Cygwin, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Solaris. Volunteers maintain the project, with forums and email lists for community help; commercial support is available from Sleuth Kit Labs. Version 4.14.0 is dated April 15, 2025.
Volatility 3
Volatility 3 is a free, open-source framework for extracting digital artifacts from volatile memory (RAM) samples. It gives investigators visibility into a system's runtime state and focuses on memory forensics rather than disk imaging or mobile forensics. It supports memory images from Windows, macOS, and Linux, and offers CSV, JSON, JSONL, pretty, and quick export formats.
Volatility 3 requires Python 3.8.0 or later and is published on PyPI. Windows symbols can be queried, downloaded, generated, and cached when missing; Mac and Linux symbol tables must be produced manually. A 2024 release added support for Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage. Documentation is generated from doc strings with Sphinx and available online. Bug reports go to GitHub Issues, while community questions can be taken to Slack. The license permits free use, sharing, and building, but requires public source sharing for additions made available to others. It provides the software as is, without warranty or condition to the extent allowed by law.